natural habitat day length and temp ranges

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:06 am

So, I've been thinking. What are we trying to provide for our crabs and/or what would be best for our crabs? Ideal conditions or habitats close to what they might have lived in in the wild?I've seen a lot about keeping temperatures and humidity at 75/75 or 80/80, something steady. No one mentions anything about daily highs or nightly lows for temps.What is the thinking for collecting data for temp ranges for day and night throughout the year, maybe even at various points of different species ranges?Also, the day length. I saw somewhere that they need at least 12 hours of "daytime". Where on this planet is it actually 12 hours of daylight every day all year long?I also don't advocate changing this stuff on a daily basis for home crabs. I was going to follow the equinoxes/solstices and the points in between each to change various settings (8 times a year... the 8 pagan holidays esentially) and make adjustments for an average for the next month and a half to come.Using this map: http://tonycoenobita.com/bigworldmap_coloured.jpg as a guide, and since I think I have all Es, I was going to start collecting data for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the southern tip of the Mexican Penninsula. Weather.com already has average highs and lows for the months, but I also want to collect info on day length and adjust averages for a month and a half.If the crabs can live in this environment in the wild, I don't see why it would be so bad in captivity. And this is not meant to offend anyone or single anyone out. I was just thinking, if we're recreating natural environments, I would think temp fluctuations and day lengths should maybe be recreated too.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:04 am

I asked that myself a while back. Here's the archive.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:08 am

Here's another that addresses simulated conditions vs the wild. Not a temp/humidity topic though.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:28 am

Yup, I had seen that one too. I'm just having a difficult time getting my temp up but my humidity down! With the cold spell us here in the mid-atlantic/south got, I havn't been able to get the temp over about 75, and it usually doesn't get much over about 70/71. My fiance is still in his cheap-college-guy-energy-conservation mode, so the apartment heat gets turned down during the day (he turns it down to 64, I turn it back up to 66...), so I'm keeping the lid on (glass) and have the lights directly over the crack in the lid. 25 watt sun-glo and 40 watt-night glow. The 25W day bulb wasn't keeping it warm enough, so I got a 40W last night (max on both for this light fixture), so we'll see what my day time temps are when I get home.I kept freaking out because the temp was only 69.8 in the tank most of yesterday and he's like "It's close enough to 70!" I told him it's not good that they're at the low end of their range all day. He relented at that.But they came out of a tank that was 30% humidity at the store. I've been TRYING so hard to get the humidity down. It was about 71 this morning. I think the lowest I got was 65, but the temp then was also down in the mid 60s.So, I'm giving up. I'm working at gettig the temps up, but I'm not going to work at raising the humidity until the end of the week after next when I would have had it at 70% by then anyway. I won't let it drop more than 2 points, but... GRRRRRR.... I'm just grumpey I can't get this stabelized at anything decent it should be at

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:51 am

I'm having the same temp/humidity issues only my temp is just inside the range at 72-74. (tell DF low end is 72 ) Humidity stays way up and cracking the lid drops the temp. Might try a higher watt bulb myself but the warmer weather will soon help anyway.

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:22 pm

My parents grew up in Panama (their dads worked for the Panama Canal Company), and I have been assured that the sun comes up at 6 in the morning and goes down at 6 in the evening, every single day of the year (because of being so close to the equator). It almost never gets below 70 degrees, even at night (the humidity holds the heat in). The humidity is always over 75%. No such thing as "winter", it just rains more that time of year, but the temps are always the same. Panama has both Es and PPs, I would suppose the other species would live in similar conditions, because prime LHC range is usually close to the equator. Some small differences, probably, but largely the same.And remember, in regulating your crabitat climate----in the wild, they have more places to go to regulate their conditions. A crabitat is small in comparison, so the temp/humidity should be more stable. But there's nothing wrong with a bit of diversity .

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:49 pm

I've thought about this quite a bit since getting my crabs a couple months ago. I've lived near the equator so I can corroborate Willow's comments. The sun rises at 6am and sets at 6pm every day of the year (its really nice). There is no winter or summer, but there is a wet and dry season.The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that simulating nature is often not the best thing for pets. You really need to figure out simply what the relevant aspects of there natural environment need to be reproduced. Think about yourself for example. Humans are from east Africa. Would you be comfortable if your home's climate mimicked the weather of east africa? I think the 75/75 or 80/80 solutions may not be so bad - seems like people have really honed in on precisely what the ideal is for hermits.The only concern I have is that people are not able to get the hermits to breed reliably. When conditions are truly optimal pets should be breeding. Seems like the big components for breeding hermit crabs is having a large filtered sea water section with plenty of water movement, as well as having a consistent day/light schedule. These two things do not seem to be the norm for even serious crabbers and I suspect adding them may allow us to begin breeding hermit crabs and hopefully remove the need for wild caught hermies.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:08 am

quote:Originally posted by Willow:My parents grew up in Panama (their dads worked for the Panama Canal Company), and I have been assured that the sun comes up at 6 in the morning and goes down at 6 in the evening, every single day of the year (because of being so close to the equator). ... But there's nothing wrong with a bit of diversity . THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! This is exactly the type of thing I wanted to see I'm very sceptical of things until someone gives me decent proof. This is great Now, what kind of temporary boost can I give to my temp to get it up for the next few weeks till our temperatures get higher outside and the heat goes up naturally?I have a UTH on one side and 40 watt sun glow and night glow bulbs alternating night and day. I think I finally got up to 75 at one point, and then drop to 71. (The light hood is only rated for 40Watts on each side)We may find another apartment this summer, which will change the heat needs for next winter, so I'm just looking for a temporary solution for now.Thanks!